News and Updates
Creating a Safe Space in the Image of God’s Kingdom
May 25, 2022
By Rev. Dr. Mi Hyeon Lee, Mid-State District Superintendent I am one of 85.7 million immigrants (2020) in the United States. I have been living in the United States almost for 30 years and it has been a journey of blessings and challenges. Doing ministry at the United Methodist Church is ...
Festival of Sharing Supports Food Security Efforts
May 25, 2022
Festival of Sharing is expanding our mission of supporting efforts to reduce poverty and hunger. We are excited to mark year two of offering the Growing Access Grants by awarding $9,800 to 11 agencies across the state. The applications we received were not only diverse in agency location ...
Olive Fay
May 25, 2022
One week into my mid-term appointment in December 2018 to the Liberty-Pleasant Grove charge in rural Chillicothe, the evangelism chairperson of Liberty UMC picked me up at the church to visit homebound parishioners. When I slid into his red Chevy pickup, he handed me a blue book—a history ...
Rural Churches Consider Their Calling
May 25, 2022
The Church is a sign of God’s presence in the world. We come together as the body of Christ to join in God’s mission of redemption. We witness what God has done and is doing and invite the Holy Spirit to lead us in the next steps. The Rural Missouri cohorts offered a space to share ...
Scholarships as Ministry
May 25, 2022
It is the season of high school graduations, and the youth in our communities are looking forward to the next chapter of life. This is an important time for our churches to consider the many ways we may be supportive of all students and their families – both within our congregations and in...
The Fluffy Love of Christ
May 25, 2022
Fred Koenig
When Odin and Ranger walk into a room, you notice them. The brief initial twinge of fear you might feel from their enormous size immediately dissipates by virtue of their broad smiles and lumbering demeanor. That, and their fluffiness. The two Newfoundlands look like oversized teddy ...
Starting Right
May 24, 2022
Fred Koenig
Rev. Mark Statler Every year about a month before Annual Conference Session, the Missouri Conference gathers pastors together who are changing churches to help them make a successful exchange of the baton in the “change-over zone.” The two-day seminar in Columbia tries to ensure ...